(Welcome back to the party, Tavi!)

---

The rattle of reentry broke into her bloodthirsty daydreams and her hands tightened on the seat once more. They’d barely broken orbit over Mars Primus, so why were they dropping back in? More importantly, if they were landing because they needed repairs, would her mother somehow ferret it out and attempt to drag her off the transport?

“What the hell?” she muttered.

Not quietly enough, apparently, because the closest Navy officer twisted around in his seat. Blue knew without a doubt that this was the man who had caught Sylvie’s attention. She hadn’t recognized Ensign Garrett Campbell from behind, but there was no mistaking that ridiculously handsome face. Perfect cheekbones, soulful dark brown eyes, and a smile that had probably gotten him out of all sorts of trouble—or into it.

He gave her that charming smile now, amusement dancing in his eyes. “Flight crew said we’re making a quick pitstop to pick up a legionnaire recruit fresh out of the Advance Combat School.”

Heat washed over Blue’s face. She’d been so stuck in her own head, she’d completely missed the announcement.

“Wait . . .” Her brow furrowed. “We’re getting a raw recruit for the Bronze?”

“Must be some kind of hotshot,” he said with a casual shrug.

As an officer in the Protectorate Navy, Campbell wasn’t a member of the Legion and might not grasp the implications. The Bronze Legion specialized in force recon missions, and its ranks were typically filled by experienced legionnaires transferring in from other legions. It was why the Bronze was smaller than the typical Legion. For a recruit straight out of training to get assigned to the Bronze was highly unusual.

Campbell, who the Ravens had nicknamed “Ensign Hotness” on their last deployment together, gave her a slow, interested once over.

“He’s not the only hot thing around here.” He winked. “We should catch up.”

Blue eyed him in consideration. The man was an incorrigible flirt off-duty, but because he was the junior Operations officer, he knew all sorts of interesting things. They’d met during the Bronze Legion’s last deployment, and he’d proven a good source of scuttlebutt. While she had the official and highly sanitized mission brief, she’d been on leave long enough that she’d missed out on all the pre-mission gossip. It would be good to know what she was walking into before she hit the flight deck.

The corner of her mouth curled up. “I might take you up on that.”

After the initial turbulence of reentry, the rest of their drop was smooth. Blue barely felt the ship touch down on the tarmac. The pilots didn’t fully shut down the engines, probably concerned that previous dissonance would creep back in if they didn’t keep them running hot. She wholeheartedly approved. Should they have the misfortune to run into maintenance issues out here, she wouldn’t put it past her mother to show up.

The loadmaster quickly got their newest passenger and his gear on board. As the engines ramped back up, the recently graduated legionnaire took a seat near Blue.

Curious, she turned to give the young man a once-over—and nearly had a heart attack. But no, that wasn’t her little brother in the black uniform of a legionnaire. She huffed out a sharp breath and tried not to stare as she let her heart rate settle back to something close to normal. For just an instant, she’d thought Aeric had grown a pair and defied their overbearing mother in an even more dramatic way than she had. Which made zero sense since she’d seen him on the other side of the planet not even ten hours prior.

The young legionnaire was fumbling with his straps, and Blue took the opportunity to observe him with a slight frown. The resemblance was uncanny. Same dark hair, same dark eyes and bone structure. There was a hard edge to this young man that her sheltered little brother lacked, however, something she’d seen in the legionnaires who’d dealt with the Janus City riots on Gemini. Her brow furrowed as she realized that hard edge had fooled her, mentally downgrading him from a young man to a kid barely into adulthood.

When the engines reached the telltale pitch of imminent takeoff and he still hadn’t managed to strap in, Blue’s patience snapped. She threw off her straps and marched across the narrow aisle between their seats.

He looked even younger up close.

“Good lord, have your balls even dropped yet?” she muttered as she roughly straightened the mess he’d made.

A scowl flickered across his face before his gaze landed on her rank. His expression blanked and his right arm twitched as if restraining a salute.

“Thank you for your assistance, ma’am,” he said cautiously, “but I’ve got it from here.”

“Sure you do, kid.” Blue snorted as she dropped back into her seat and strapped in. A few seconds later, she heard the click of his straps properly snapping into place.

“I’m not a kid, ma’am,” he said stiffly. “I’m eighteen.”

They were pressed back into the threadbare cushions as the aging transport ship rattled and groaned its way into the air. When they’d broken free of atmo again, Blue turned back to the fresh recruit.

“What’s your name, kid?”

Blue mostly called him “kid” because he clearly was one, but also because she occasionally gave into her urge to poke people with sticks to see what kind of reaction she could get out of them. Pointing out his age, or lack thereof, was an obvious sore point, one he’d better get over quickly before the experienced legionnaires ate him alive.

“Private Diego Tavi, ma’am.” Tavi lifted his chin with a hint of pride. “Distinguished graduate, ACS Class of 711, assigned to the 13th Legion, Bravo Company, 4th Squad.”

Blue bit back a grimace. He really was going to the Bronze. She’d half hoped Campbell was wrong, because the 13th was no place for noobs. Either someone really hated this kid, or he really was that good. It would be interesting to find out which, and she’d have a front row seat along the way. The Bronze paired squads with dropship pilots, and the 4th Squad was her responsibility.

The thrusters kicked in, giving them an approximation of gravity as the small transport boosted for the orbital shipyard where they would rendezvous with the Perseverance and the rest of the Bronze Legion’s task force. From there, they’d head to the system’s jump point. Blue tossed off her straps and stood with a low groan.

“Stupid seats.”

The only reason she didn’t rub her abused tailbone was because the kid was staring at her, and she figured he didn’t need to see an officer rubbing her own ass, no matter how badly it ached. She settled for twisting her back until it popped. As she did so, the young private’s insignia caught her eye.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” she muttered and stalked back over to Tavi.

Mister Distinguished Graduate had managed to mess up his rank pins while wrestling with his straps. Rather than the comfortable standard black duty uniform Blue was wearing, he was in the formal dress uniform some upper-level staff weenie had mandated for reporting into a new unit.

---

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Missed the previous snippets? No worries, I got you covered.

• Snippet 9
• Snippet 8
• Snippet 7
• Snippet 6
• Snippet 5
• Snippet 4
• Snippet 3
• Snippet 2
• Snippet 1